Stage. Just for laughs.

James Stephens Iii Cares About The Ronald Mcdonald House

October 29, 1999|By Allan Johnson.

Ronald McDonald House Charities, the organization that provides care and comfort for families of children suffering from life-threatening diseases, holds a special place in the heart of comedian James Stephens III.

Last year, he finally got a chance to say "thank you."

About 10 years ago, the comedian lost his niece to cancer. Making his family feel just a little better while they dealt with the pain was the Ronald McDonald House, which provides lodging and anything else a family of a sick child might need. Among other things, the charity gave his niece and other family members a trip to Disney World.

"I was really impressed by the way they took care of my family," says Stephens, a standup for about 15 years.

Years later, Stephens found himself performing at a function for the Urban League. In the audience were some McDonald's officials who, impressed by his comic chops, asked him to perform at the organization's Awards of Excellence gala last year.

"When this event happened, it came sort of unexpected," says Stephens, who is in his late 30s. "When I was onstage, I said to the audience that it was like God's way of letting me get in front of these people and say thank you, because I've always wanted to.

"They do a lot of wonderful things for children, and I was really happy to be involved with it."

Stephens, who since has done several McDonald's charity events over the last few years, has been asked to again appear at the Awards of Excellence celebration, a sold-out event that will be held Saturday at the Rosemont Convention Center, with a special performance by Garth Brooks.

Richard Jeni, one of the top touring comics around, has just sealed a deal with CBS for a new sitcom. The show should appear on the network's 2000-01 schedule.

"We should call the show `Everybody Loves Raymond,' " Jeni joked in the New York Post. "Why reinvent the wheel?"

Jeni, it is hoped, has learned some lessons from his experience as the star of one of the UPN network's first sitcoms, "Platypus Man." The show's producers took the concept from Jeni's popular standup character -- that of a lonely guy going through life trying to find a way -- yet wouldn't solicit his input.

"They talked to me, and sometimes they listened and sometimes they wouldn't," Jeni told us in 1995, a few months after the show had been canceled soon after its premiere.

"But their attitude basically was, `Your job now is to be an actor in a show. And if you try and do our job, you're gonna be trying to do too many things. Just trust us.' So I trusted them. . . ."

Fooled once, shame on them. Fooled twice, shame on you.

The standup lineup

Here's who is scaring audiences with laughter this Halloween weekend. Current club sets are scheduled to run through Saturday, and new acts begin on Thursday, unless otherwise noted. Lineups are subject to change.

- The current king of edgy, abrasive, cutting standup is coming to Chicago for a couple of days: George Carlin. The legend will probably do material from his HBO special "You Are All Diseased" when he plays the Rosemont Theatre Friday and Saturday. For tickets and other information, call Ticketmaster at 312-559-1212.

- The last of three powerhouse "Kings of Comedy" appearances to play in Chicago is set for Friday at the United Stadium. Tickets for the show -- starring Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Bernie Mac and Cedric the Entertainer -- may be sold out, but try Ticketmaster (312-559-1212).

- Gallagher, the food-smashing, mess-making master of prop comedy, hits his annual Halloween haunt, the Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville, Ind., on Friday. For tickets and other details, call 219-769-6600 or 773-734-7266.

- Talented Carlos Mencia, the host of Galavision's "Funny Is Funny" standup comedy series, performs through Sunday at Zanies, 1548 N. Wells St.; call 312-337-4027. Another top comedy talent, Anthony Clark, is working the club starting on Thursday.

- John Fox isn't dressing up like one -- we don't think -- when he works Riddles Comedy Club (15750 S. Harlem Ave.-Continental Shopping Center, Orland Park; 708-444-0234) Friday and Saturday.

- Jimmy Pardo, who recently popped up on his buddy Paul Gilmartin's TBS cinema/cooking series "Dinner & A Movie," returns to the area he used to call home to headline the Funny Bone (3000 Warrenville Rd. in the Radisson Hotel Lisle-Naperville in Lisle; 630-955-0500) this weekend.

- The Barrel of Laughs is getting into the spirit of the holiday with "The Magic of Cameron" through Sunday (10345 S. Central Ave., Oak Lawn, 708-499-2969).

- The Aardvark comedy theater company celebrates its fifth anniversary with a new production, "Descent (A Darwinian Comedy)," a dark farce set in corporate America. Previews start Friday, and the official opening is next Thursday, at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave. The show runs through Dec. 11. Call 773-489-0843 for tickets and other information.

Update City

Remember the story we wrote on Larry David, the co-creator of "Seinfeld" who did a wacky HBO comedy special (it will be rebroadcast at 8 p.m. Wednesday)? We thought "Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm," a fictional account of David working on an HBO comedy special -- and all the trouble that he gets into along the way -- was so funny that it would serve as a hilarious ongoing TV series.

HBO might have the same idea. The cable network and David are talking about possibly doing a regular series. There is, however, no word whether that show would be a spinoff of the special.